27 March 2015

A dagger to a word nerd's heart

Oh, the soul-crushing agony

It's no secret that I harbor a wicked case of bibliophilia. For certain, there are far greater -philias that one can suffer in this life. I'm glad that the -philia I've developed is one that brings me immeasurable pleasure. Sure, it's one that has literally cost us dearly on our multiple corporate moves (since those costs are calculated by weight and hardcover books aren't delicate flowers). My sagging bookshelves are a hoarder's delight but I can't apologize for that. Books are awesome.

One of the things I like doing when I'm in a new city is to hit a bookstore and I don't mean a soulless big box one, but an independent bookseller. This is no easy task anymore as so many of these smaller, independent bookstores continue to fall by the wayside. Far too often, I get to one and I see a sign like the one in the photo above taped to the door and it is a virtual dagger to this word nerd's heart. It really does hurt. While we were in the desert last weekend where we saw a large glowing, warmth producing orb in the sky - I think you call it the 'sun' - I heard about a going out of business sale at a location of the one remaining soulless big box book retailer and I thought I should check it out.

Now lest you cry "Hypocrite," hear me out. I love me some books, but a good book doesn't necessarily come cheap, so why not check to see if there wasn't a deal or two? I got to the store and saw a sea of empty shelves. I know that they hadn't sold out of inventory. All the good stuff had either gone back to the publisher or to other stores. What remained did do my word nerd's heart a bit of good. All that was left were games, cards, and junk that has no business being in a bookstore in the first place. Whew! Like I said, that did my word nerd heart some good.

So word nerd, what have you been reading, you ask? Here's a quick peek at what's on my nightstand:

Ghettoside by Jill Leovy - murder and injustice in America todayFlash Boys by Michael Lewis - Wall Street unpleasantriesRedeployment by Phil Klay - the stories of those who have gone back to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

All non-fiction. All the time. I can't get away from it. I wonder what that says about me? Hmmm
Do me a favor. Go read a book.

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Who writes this?

Married to an amazing and mighty fine woman, the stunningly patient SML. Father of three great children - Our Lady of Awesome, CAL, and The RM. Father-in-law to Awesome. Grandfather. Doing time in New England.